NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Nov. 14) -- The Thiel College Men's Basketball team posted a near-wire-to-wire 83-73 win over Penn State Shenango Friday evening on Ron Galbreath Court inside Buzz Ridl Gymnasium on day one of Westminster College's Buzz Ridl Classic.
The Tomcats improve to 2-1 as they led for nearly 39 minutes over the Nittany Lions (1-2). Thiel shot 49.2 percent (30-of-61) from the field while going 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) from deep in the triumph.
Thiel used a 20-2 run in the first half kickstarted on a
Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) 3-ball to turn an 11-all contest into a 31-13 advantage at the 10:42 mark. The Blue and Gold were 7-of-9 from the field in the nearly-5-minute spurt.
Brown posted 10 points on 3-of-6 from deep to go with five rebounds and a pair of assists.
The Thiel lead grew to as many as 24 on an
Anthony Henderson II (Miramar, Fla./Somerset Academy) pull-up jay to make it 43-19 with 4:30 left in the first half. Thiel carried a 47-33 lead into the intermission.
Henderson II posted a career-high-tying 14 points on 5-of-11 from the field and 4-of-4 at the line.
The Nittany Lions got within 11 at 51-40 in the second half before an extended 15-3 Thiel run made it 66-43 at the under-12 media timeout.
Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) had 4 points in the spurt as Thiel was 6-of-8 from the field in the span.
Accursio-Harris led Thiel with a career-most-tying 17 points on 7-of-10. He grabbed six boards and dished out a pair of helpers.
Shenango made a late push and got as close as 6 down at 75-69 with 2:12 remaining before back-to-back
John DiCecco (Indianapolis, Ind./Lebanon) buckets made it a 10-point game with a minute remaining as the Blue and Gold went on to take the win 83-73.
DiCecco finished with 9 points on 4-of-8 and four boards. Kenny Ernat added 8 points on 3-of-5 and four boards in reserve.
Kadenne Kemp (Inglewood, Cali./Northgate) contributed 9 points on 4-of-6 to go with five rebounds while
Logan Lentz (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) had 7 points and corralled five boards.
Das Sanders (Dallas, Texas/Fort Worth Christian) added 9 points and team bests in rebounds (eight) and assists (three).
The Tomcats had distinct edges in second-chance points (17-8) and bench scoring (24-9)
Thiel concludes the Buzz Ridl Classic tomorrow at 1 p.m. against non-conference foe Albion.
